I’m definitely a fair weather sports fan. Like nearly everyone in the tri-state area, I had a brief crush on the 1986 Mets, and a similar infatuation with the Knicks during their recent thrilling NBA Championship ride.
Football — by which I mean global football, i.e. soccer in the US — never received even my nominal interest. But I decided it might be fun to get fired up about the 2026 World Cup, despite the fact that I can barely follow the game. The rules strike me as inscrutable and arbitrarily fluctuating; the players look like ants darting around aimlessly, and as all football neophytes complain, there are not enough goals. So I started watching on June 11, when the games began, some of them just 17 miles away at NY/NJ Stadium (AKA MetLife Stadium). I’ve enjoyed them, and learned a lot, but maybe even more than the games, I’ve enjoyed the fans of the 48 competing teams.
Scotland didn’t get far in the tournament, but who didn’t love the team’s supporters, dubbed the Tartan Army? They showed up in their kilts, playing bagpipes and inviting Boston and Miami to become, briefly, joyous outposts of infectious joy. Hilariously, they adopted a Boston traffic cone (symbol of the city’s unique parking culture), made it a naturalized Scot and flew it home with the team in its own first class seat. Scottish soccer also has a strong philanthropic tradition, which their fans brought to the states, donating to children’s charities wherever they played. Respect!
Then there’s the iconic Viking Row of Norway’s supporters, which became a huge cultural phenomenon during the team’s impressive run to the quarter finals. Fans performed the viral celebration in Times Square, Citi Field, in airplane aisles and on mall escalators, and on countless TikTok and Instagram feeds, Back home, the Norwegian royal family, care home residents and kindergarten classes got in on the act, much to my delight. Another delight: the horned helmets worn by many fans.
Nearly every game afforded us another type of performance — the fans and teams singing their national anthems with an ardor rarely seen at US sporting events. (The sole exception: Spain, since their national anthem is a march, without any words. They just hum along apparently.)
Camera pans of the stands have been a great source of admiration and amusement throughout the games. Absolutely everybody got the memo about wearing their team’s colors (in clothing and freqently face paint), but many fans went much further. Mexican fans donned lucha libre masks and oversized sombreros. Brazilians and Colombians came in their carnival finery — magnificent feathered and beaded headdresses. At the England games, the camera often caught three young men dressed as the lions on the British flag, singing along to ‘Hey Jude’ in honor of star Jude Bellingham. High points for creativity go to the Japanese fans dressed as bowling pins (which has some relationship to an anime series). We should also honor the Japanese for sticking around after games to clean up the stands. Unbelievable!
I understand that this kind of audience participation is called ‘high engagement,’ and I am definitely here for it. What fun to witness this diversity, passion and humanity!
Linnetontheleaf 